Scotland moves forward with national investment bank

28 Feb The Scottish Parliament has published legislation to support the establishment of a national investment bank that will support key infrastructure projects.

Economy secretary Derek Mackay

The Bill grants the necessary powers to set up the Scottish National Investment Bank, which will provide financing for businesses through their whole life cycle and for important infrastructure projects to catalyse private sector investment. The Scottish government has committed to investing £2bn over 10 years to provide capital for the bank, which will come into operation in 2020.

The bank will be a public limited company and ministers will be given the power to guide its strategic direction by setting missions toaddress socio-economic challenges.

Brexit, and particularly a no deal Brexit, will increase demand for a national investment bank to provide support to continue to grow Scotland’s economy throughout a challenging period, the Scottish government believes.

Economy secretary Derek Mackay said: “The bank will become a cornerstone in Scotland’s economic architecture supporting businesses across all stages of the business growth lifecycle, in addition to financing infrastructure to secure private sector investment. These steps will ensure we are delivering for the economy of today and ready to seize the opportunities of the future. With record low unemployment and further economic growth, we will continue to do all we can to stimulate the economy.”

Director of CBI Scotland Tracy Black said: “The introduction of the Scottish National Investment Bank (SNIB) Bill is welcome news for the Scottish business community. If used effectively, the SNIB could have a transformative impact by encouraging the greater patient capital investment needed to support infrastructure development in the long-term and catalyse private sector investment.”